ABOUT JULIE GARDNER

My name is Julie Gardner - PWP VP, Marketing Director, and right hand woman to Emily Perrin. Like Emily, athletics is and always has been a huge part of my life and family dynamic. I grew up playing any and all sports I had access to. I eventually focused on lacrosse and earned a spot on the team at UVA. I was involved in coaching both before and after college and served as assistant coach for William & Mary, Vanderbilt, and JMU.

It took me four years of being in a college atmosphere in a coaching capacity to realize that I needed to create time to focus on my internal world. My college experience was very different from those around me. Unfortunately in my four years, I experienced an abnormal amount of death, most premature and tragic in nature. I had never created the time and space to focus on moving through those experiences, rather than just moving on.

Once I took a step back, I was finally able to build in more time for myself daily - in large part for yoga and therapy. Although I had been practicing yoga for years, I finally dedicated time to self practice - not just going to class for the physical rigor, but really starting to get into the mental and emotional aspects of the practice. in addition, I was able to vocalize more and more with my therapists and began to grasp the importance of being more mindful of how choices and experiences affect me as an individual. 

I am now a certified 200 hour Yoga Teacher and am currently in Meditation Teacher Training, while also earning a certificate in Positive Mindfulness. Alongside Emily, and the growing Perrin Wellness and Performance team, I’m looking forward to providing the tools and techniques to athletes in a preventative nature, rather than a reactive one. Because every single individual will encounter challenges in their lives, and for these athletes, those challenges will not just be in competition. If we expect our athletes to perform at their highest level, we have to take care of the entire person - not just the physical athlete.